Inside the most bizarre houseboats in Britain
canada goose store It’s been called the street in Britain much to the annoyance of residents. Set on the estuary of https://www.gooseyou.com the River Adur in the coastal Sussex town of Shoreham on Sea, the canada goose outlet ottawa little towpath simply named Riverbank is home to more than 40 distinctive houseboats that are rather a soulful celebration of creativity and free spiritedness. canada goose store
On Riverbank, homes move with the tides that raise and lower the boats from their muddy canada goose uk cradle every day. The boats residents share their world with fishermen, yachties, workers from the nearby port and the rich bird life of a tiny RSPB reserve. On the canada goose outlet woodbury estuary’s inland side to the north, meanwhile, Shoreham’s increasingly cosmopolitan old town offers hip cafes and boutiques and weekend street canada goose outlet in canada markets in the lee of the ancient, flint canada goose outlet los angeles stoned church of St Nicolas, whose foundations date back to Saxon times around AD900.
uk canada goose A graceful white footbridge links the old town to Riverbank and the enclave of Shoreham Beach, where seafront houses butt against a vast expanse of shingle beach backed by beach huts and a lagoon. Prop planes occasionally buzz in to land by the beautiful 1930s Art Deco terminal of Shoreham Airport sometimes known as Brighton City canada goose outlet las vegas Airport which, founded in 1910, is not only the UK’s oldest airport but the oldest purpose built commercial airport in the world. uk canada goose
The soft green slopes of the South Downs the term comes from the Saxon word canada goose outlet vancouver for hill rise behind the town, topped by the Gothic wonder of Lancing College. This amazing building was used canada goose outlet in toronto for scenes in the 2008 film version of Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn canada goose outlet eu Waugh, an old boy of the school.
canada goose black friday sale View image of Three of the more than 40 distinctive boats along Riverbank canada goose black friday sale
The boat lined towpath that is Riverbank may be less grand but it is no less memorable as you walk along its narrow thread, flanked by stands of wild fennel and artichoke, piles of wood burner logs and rusting marine canada goose outlet in vancouver detritus.
Every boat along the canada goose shop uk bay is different; engaging clutter spreads out from their gangplanks, from letterboxes made from old canada goose outlet florida microwaves to ingenious tiny A giant wind chime that draws admirers to number 27 Silvia Emery’s Moidore canada goose parka uk is fashioned from an old metal piano frame and strings of seashells.
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Though the first boats were moored here in the 1920s, much of today’s fleet were brought here in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Many are decommissioned military craft, such as Valeur a former D Day British landing craft, whose owner Adrian tells me is canada goose outlet new york one of only a handful still in existence. It sits beside the sleek grey bulk of the post war German torpedo boat Fische, now transformed into a four bedroom home. Lunasea served as a British gunboat at the D Day landings.
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The community has a rich history of its own, dating back nearly a century to the 1920s, as chronicled by the community’s fascinating Facebook page. It expanded greatly as a novel answer to Britain accommodation shortage in the years after World War Two, then again later as a haven for folk seeking more alternative lifestyles during the hippy era of the 1960s.
canadian goose jacket One core group of past residents met at the Royal College of Art in the early 1960s, explained Ian Meriwoode resident at number 31 (Raglan) who has become the unofficial historian of the Shoreham boat community. Stewart mentions the community in his autobiography from the early 1960s, when he tried to stay but wasn’t cool enough for the hardcore beatniks! he added. canadian goose jacket
canada goose clearance sale In the last couple of years, two of the vessels have also become B a unique canada goose outlet london alternative to staying in canada goose outlet belgium Brighton, which lies just a few miles east. The Shieldsman is a former Tyneside passenger ferry, while Dodge is a quirky amalgam of an old hull with a carapace featuring an old lifeboat joined to a vintage fire engine. canada goose clearance sale
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Dodge is the brainchild of Hamish McKenzie, whose expanding mini flotilla of boats (he now has seven) seem as much works of art as places to live.
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canada goose uk shop Verda built from what was once a Portsmouth Gosport ferry is perhaps the most canada goose outlet canada glorious example of a floating sculpture. Its exterior is topped by crinkly striped metal roofing and giant bug eye windows, plus an old 60 seater coach that has been sawed in half and built onto the decks of an old coal carrying vessel. A Reliant Robin the strange but iconic British three wheeler car famously driven by shady trader Del Boy in the hit BBC TV series Only Fools And Horses pokes out of one side of another of canada goose outlet store montreal McKenzie’s boats. canada goose uk shop
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Canada Goose Parka Verda canada goose outlet mississauga interior is equally memorable. As we chatted over a cuppa, I noticed a mummified cat, strangely adorned mannequins and chairs made from boat bits. Having lived here for three decades, McKenzie embodies the Shoreham houseboat official canada goose outlet community’s earlier, more alternative days back in the 1960s when residents were branded Water Gypsies. Canada Goose Parka
Canada Goose Outlet had some characters back then but that was when you could buy a mooring and a place to live in here for McKenzie said wryly. with gentrification we have different people. The alternativeness is not quite so alternative. But it won’t ever be mainstream. I went off to art school when I was 40, though I’d never call myself an artist. I build canada goose jacket uk and renovate boats, he said. an explorer, always keeping my eye open for things. I’m always looking for boat hulls: they are all individual projects. He paused, then laughed. Dodge, for example, includes parts of four old boats as well as canada goose outlet black friday the fire engine. He takes particular pride in classic British engineering, like the Reliant Robin. firm but lethal cars, he laughed. Canada Goose Outlet
Canada Goose Coats On Sale His latest project named Clive is an artistic vision of a giant World War Two bomber. It uses an old barge hull; its moulded polystyrene carapace adorned with drawings of fish and emblazoned with a slogan by 20th century anarchist Emma Goldman: I can’t dance it is not my revolution. even has old bombs suitably decommissioned and defused scattered about the surrounding mud. Canada Goose Coats On Sale
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Canada Goose online Shoreham’s other houseboat B could hardly be more different in terms of both vessel and owner. Set amid canada goose outlet a separate cluster of boats on the east side of the footbridge, The Shieldsman now belongs to Carolyn Drake. In the past, she spent years as a research neuroscientist as well as founding her own school; now, she said, she is a canada goose outlet kokemuksia teacher of mindfulness for adults. Canada Goose online
canada goose coats on sale View image of Shieldsman (Credit: Credit: Olivia Howitt) canada goose coats on sale
Like many boats here, The Shieldsman has a chequered history. Having spent 31 years ferrying passengers between North and South Shields across the River Tyne in the north of England, it was decommissioned and bought by a man who wanted to turn it into a floating disco.